Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety in dogs can result in barking, destruction, housetraining issues and can even result in a dog hurting himself after prolonged attempts at escape. I have worked with two separate cases involving dogs that were so panicked they pushed through window screens and jumped out of second story windows severely injuring themselves.

Dog Boredom or Separation Anxiety?

Separation anxiety often gets misdiagnosed, when in fact the behaviors are symptoms of boredom or demand behaviors such as, "Get me out of the crate!" Actual separation anxiety has an element of panic that manifests in extreme, immediate reactions. Dogs with separation anxiety will often exhibit their destruction or barking seconds after their person leaves the house or room.

Did you know that if a dog can be alone for 30-45 minutes without incident, most likely he has either a minor case of separation anxiety or doesn't have separation anxiety at all?

I can help you diagnose and treat separation anxiety, barking, destruction or boredom. I can also help you increase the chances that your young puppy doesn't have separation anxiety when he gets older. There are a lot of preventative strategies that you can use to help prevent this frustrating and potentially harmful affliction.

Did you know that most people don't use the crate enough when their puppy is young and this mistake increases the chance of separation anxiety?

Challenging But Treatable

Separation anxiety is often considered the most challenging form of dog behavior problems. To properly treat this, you need to keep your dog under-threshold or slowly get him used to being alone. If you leave for a period of time that he cannot handle, there is a chance that he will regress back to the starting point of treatment. These constant regressions (you have to leave the house at some point, right?) can make it seem like you are taking one step forward and two steps backwards in progress. This is absolutely what is happening.

One important point to remember about separation anxiety is that dogs don't simply outgrow this and get used to be alone. If dogs are not slowly acclimated to being alone then each time they are pushed past their limit they can end up at step one. Frustrating but true.

What My Clients are Saying

"Jeff is a great trainer!! I first bought one of his ebooks on separation anxiety that was a great help in dealing with our new rescue puppy Nala. We were just at my parents house for Christmas Eve and there were 6 other dogs there too. We were complemented on how well behaved she is, and we have Jeff to thank for that. His training sessions all started with about a million questions from us which he patiently listened to and answered with lessons on how to work on the behavior in question. I can not say enough good things about Jeff. He has one of the best training programs in Chicago and I highly recommend his services to all dog owners. Thanks Jeff!"

Timothy P.

Dog Separation Anxiety Kindle Book

If you are in my travel area I can provide private in-home training. You also might want to purchase my Kindle EBook that I wrote as well: Stop Barking and Separation Anxiety.

The exercises that I show you are not difficult, but they do require a lot of time. There aren't a lot of options to speed up the process, although anti-anxiety medication can sometimes help. I can provide my perspective if I think you should speak with your veterinarian about anti-anxiety medication options. The key is to lower anxiety so leaving does not initiate the panic response.

Get In Touch

Please let me know if I can assist you and your family with this challenging problem. Fill out my Dog Training Form and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I really appreciate your interest in my services.

References, Reviews and Testimonials

Jean Donaldson

“Jeff combines training ability and knowledge of behavior and behavior modification with real empathy and compassion for his human clients. All this plus a commitment to evidence-based and modern, humane methods make him someone you can trust completely, which is a rare thing in the dog training industry.” Jean Donaldson, Founder and Director, The Academy for Dog Trainers

Yelp

Since 2002 I provided private training to my clients in and around Chicago. I was fortunate to receive fantastic feedback and reviews. I have listed the reviews here from my business, Chicago Paws. While I build my new dog training business in Cary, NC and surrounding areas, I am proud to show you my recent reviews from my previous clients. Please browse these reviews and don't hesitate to contact me with questions you might have.

Testimonials

We are so happy with the puppy training we did with you for Milo. He is doing so well and we have had many comments from people who are surprised to learn he is only five months old because of how well-behaved he is. I tell them all about you and how effective your method of stopping problems before they start has been for us. Your emphasis on proper socialization was also right on target -- as you know he went from